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Rosemary-and-Asmaweb

A Women’s Only Culinary Adventure

4,440.00€31,410.00€

Your school is set in the heart of France and The Touraine is without question the home to European Renaissance which brought with it a rich and diverse Culinary History and Depth. Your Chefs are both Qualified and Award winning chefs who have competed and won gold medals at International level as well as having cooked by demand for heads of State, Celebrities and finally on several occasions on demand for her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Prices

Residential €3490.00
Single Supplement €950.00

Extra Info

Le Calabash Cookery Experience includes:

  • Accommodation for 6 nights Loire Valley and 2 nights in Paris and free wifi
  • Entrance into Château Chenonceau
  • Entrance into the spa for the use of the facilities
  • Meals: daily breakfast, and meals as per itinerary, including three glasses of selected wine with meals.
  • Transport for all activities in the itinerary.
  • Personalised apron and recipe folder.
  • Return trip to Paris
  • Free Wi-Fi

The price does not include:

  • Transport from and to airport or station / this can be arranged
  • Optional excursions or meals not listed in itinerary or any additional expenses ordered personally.
  • Drinks that are personally ordered or excess wine consumed at meals
  • Laundry
  • Phone Calls
  • Visit to the Château Amboise
  • Additional nights’ accommodation 195.00€ including breakfast, subject to room availability
  • Specialized Spa Treatments

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Deposit Option Available: Pay 20% today and the rest later.

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Itinerary

Sunday Day 1

  • Arrival after lunch and check into and settle into your accommodation
  • 19.00 A welcome champagne cocktail and the opportunity to meet and get to know your fellow, Culinary Adventurers’ followed by Alison and Sidney’s ‘Taste of the Loire Valley’ dinner in the ‘Old Stable’ at le Calabash

Monday Day 2

09.00 Traditional French Breakfast

Today you will be taught, hands on some of ‘Le Calabash’s’ most popular dishes. Two of the dishes you will be taught are Gold Medal dishes and appear in the ‘le Calabash’ A Culinary Adventure, Cookery Book. These dishes are simplified and easy for you to prepare back home in your own kitchen.

  • The art of butchering, cooking and working with poultry and duck
  • Fricasse of Guinea Fowl with Morrels and a Touraine Sauce
  • Seasonal Duck Dish
  • Pommes Fondantes, Dauphinoises and Seasonal Vegetable dish

Lunch.  We enjoy a dish we prepared this morning with Alison and Sidney’s favourite French artisanal cheese and our freshly baked bread.

Our journey into the pastry kitchen begins.

  • This afternoon, Alison shares her take on a Trio of Gourmet Brûlées.
  • This is not the normal Brûlee class, but rather a hands on class on how to create stunning desserts using Brûlee as the main focus on your plate.

17.00 Leisure time until dinner

19.30 Tonight we enjoy a dinner demonstration by both Alison and Sidney.

The Wine Tasting is delivered by an award winning sommelier and wine buyer, who will share his in depth knowledge of French Wine and together with Alison, they pair the wines with some of the finest chocolate varieties in the world, working with Valrhona.

We enjoy a dinner of a Dish we prepared this morning and Alison’s Vacherin.

Tuesday Day 3

08.30 Traditional French Breakfast

09.30 We Depart for Chateau Chenonceau where you have the morning to explore Chenonceau at your leisure

Property of the Crown, then royal residence, Chenonceau Castle is an exceptional site not only because of its original design, the richness of its collections, its furniture and its decorations, but also because of its destiny, was loved, administrated and protected by women, who were all extraordinary and who, for the most part have marked history.

For the historical background, the “Château des Dames” was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, and successively embellished by Diane de Poitiers then Catherine de Medici. Chenonceau was protected from the hardship of the revolution by Madame Dupin.

12.30 We enjoy Lunch in Chenonceau.

12.30 We have lunch in the charming Orangerie restaurant set in the gardens of Château Chenonceau

We head back to le Calabash after lunch where you will participate in a hands-on cooking class of ice-cream and Alison’s Mousse au Chocolat.

19.00 We enjoy a seasonal dish for dinner tonight

Wednesday Day 4

We depart for the historical city of Tours and its fine food market.

We visit Tours best bakery to choose our breakfast pastries which we will enjoy in a little market coffee shop. This morning we explore both the indoor ‘Les Halles Food Market’ and the twice weekly outdoor market. We visit the old town which clusters around place Plumereau; its old houses restored to their former glory. Today this is the place for pavement cafes and people watching in the summer but stroll the smaller, narrow streets like rue Briconnet and you step back into the historic medieval city. To the south you’ll find a Romanesque basilica, the Cloitre de St-Martin and the new Basilique de St-Martin. You’re in the place which was once on the great pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. St-Martin was a soldier who became bishop of Tours in the 4th century and helped spread Christianity through France. His remains, rediscovered in 1860, are now in the crypt of the new Basilique.

The other old part, the cathedral quarter, on the other side of the main Rue Nationale, is dominated by the Cathédrale St-Gatien, a flamboyant Gothic building with 12th-century decorated stonework covering the outside. Inside the highlights are the 16th-century tomb of Charles VIII and Anne de Bretagne’s two children, and the stained glass. 

Lunch Today we enjoy a traditional French lunch at le Calabash, prepared by Alison.

14.00 Alison will share with you her passion for creating and preparing one of the world’s most sought after classics, the Macaron, on which she has put her own stamp.

  • Exotic Chocolate Macaron
  • Seasonal Macaron Creation
  • Taking the Macaron on a Contemporary journey into the future.

17.30 Leisure time till dinner

19.30 Tonight you dine with the Bond’s friend at a Michelin Starred Restaurant.

Thursday Day 5

This morning at 4am, our fish delivery arrived off the boats that came in late last night at the Atlantic port of La Rochelle a two-hour drive from le Calabash.

You will be taught the best catch for each season and how to identify your fish and how to ensure it is fresh. The day will include techniques of preparing your fish.

Fish will include hands on tuition of;

  • Sidney’s “Smoke, Fire and Spice” Fruits of the Sea creation
  • Preparing and working with Mussels, fresh from our Atlantic coast.
  • We prepare a seasonal Fish course using our Fresh Ocean catch of The Day.

Lunch. For lunch we enjoy our dishes we prepared this morning.

 

15.30 Leisure time till dinner

You can relax or explore the area this afternoon, cycle, walk along the river, play boules in the village square, or why not spoil yourself to a relaxing massage, or spa treatment at La Roche Posay’s renowned spa. You could also visit the picturesque town Angles sur Anglin or go to le Grand Pressigny.

19.00 We return to Le Calabash for a tasting of Loire Valley wines and French chocolates

Chocolate is the confectionery match to wine. Perhaps this is because the process of making chocolate is very similar to wine. Both cocoa beans and wine are fermented with the very same type of yeast. No wonder there are so many wine and chocolate lovers!

Friday Day 6

Traditional French Breakfast

  • After Breakfast we visit our local Goats Cheese farm and producer where we taste and experience what is known as the best goat’s cheese in the world, St Maures AOC.

When we return from the goat’s cheese farm, we are exposed to the art of Soufflé and preparing a few of Sidney’s favourites using Goats cheese.

  • Cheese Soufflé
  • Soufflé Grand Marnier
  • Sidney’s hands of French Bread Making

Lunch in the Orchard 

  • This afternoon, Alison’s shares her dessert of the moment, during a hands on cooking class.

Using local and fresh ingredients, Alison will guide you through preparing a dessert to

impress Even the most discerning guest.

  • You will also assist Sidney in preparing for tonight’s Zulu BBQ and learn to prepare some of the most exotic dishes from the African continent.

 

19.30   Certificate presentation and champagne

For dinner tonight you will take part in Sidney’s Zulu BBQ “A Taste of Africa”

Will include recipes from Sidney’s childhood which he will share with you.

  • Mozambique Chicken Peri Peri
  • Chakalaka Sauce
  • Lamb Samosas
  • Durban Vegetable Bhajis
  • Putu Pap
  • Sidney’s childhood nanny, Edith’s Fruit Chutney4

Saturday Day 7

8.00 Early departure after breakfast to the City of Lights, Paris.

13.00 Lunch. Au Pied de Cochon situated in Les Halles area and is a Parisian institution. Au Pied de Cochon is also highly regarded for its setting, typical of leading Parisian brasseries and its huge terrace overlooking a pedestrian street with a view of the Saint-Eustache Church.

This afternoon we visit Rue Montmartre, home to Paris’s Kitchen and Chef Shops where you can purchase some of the small pastry and kitchen pieces of equipment you may need to prepare your meals back home.

We check into our hotel where you can settle in. Dinner is for your own account.

Sunday Day 8

10.30 After a leisurely breakfast we meet our guide who will be taking us on an exclusive Food Tour, through Paris’s best pastry, chocolate, charcuterie and cheese shops. At the end of this tour we will enjoy a lunch with these specialities whilst being told about the history and stories behind them.

The afternoon is yours to enjoy Paris and its many treasures

20.00 For our last evening we have our farewell dinner at the famous Le Train Bleu where we will reminisce on our Culinary Adventure and make a toast to all those wonderful memories!

Monday Day 9

11am Departure

Additional Information

Formula

Residential, Non Residential / Non Participating

How Many People

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, More Than 10 Please Contact Us

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